These desserts are as good as they are because of the quality of the locally sourced ingredients. Golden olive oil, brittle, fresh walnuts, and fragrant honey from the Cretan mountains, which can have notes of thyme or other wild herbs are the basis of these crispy and sticky delicacies.

In Rethymnon, for example, I followed a recommendation from my guide book, which said to visit Yiorgos Hatziparaskos, whose shop is tucked away in a hard-to-find side street, but was well worth finding. He makes baklava and kataïfi the traditional way, and like the book said, they are to die for!

If you want advise to find the best baklava in Crete, or would like to take a cookery class to learn to make it yourself, ask Karma Travel!